Early Saturday afternoon, I wandered down Bull Street to Graveface Records & Curiosities at 5 W. 40th St. for Record Store Day.
Graveface took a different approach to crowd control this year. The number of shoppers inside was capped pretty low, and a doorman waved in new customers only as others left. So I had a few minutes to wait outside but then had an easy time browsing.
Among the gems I bought was “Furious Hoops Vol. 1,” a new vinyl compilation from Savannah-based label Furious Hooves. The new album was featured last week under the category “Oddities” in Rolling Stone magazine’s guide to Record Store Day.
It was no surprise to run into Furious Hooves co-founder Ryan McArdle at the store, and it certainly wasn’t a surprise to run into Ryan Graveface, who owns both the record store and the Graveface Records label.
After shopping, I decided to get a bite to eat and was literally frozen for a few moments by indecision. I was standing next to Back in the Day Bakery, which was packed, and I realized that I had about 10 good lunch options within comfortable walking distance.
So I stood for a few moments and enjoyed the buzz of activity.
There are multiple new businesses about which I haven’t written along that
stretch of Bull between 37th Street and Victory Drive. And there is ongoing renovation in multiple commercial spaces stretching north to Forsyth Park.
Just to the east in the Thomas Square neighborhood, infill residential projects are welcoming new residents, and there are several new commercial projects in the works too.
This is what the local economic boom looks like in some neighborhoods that are on the fringes of the greater downtown area.
Many of the new investors in the area are probably unaware that their projects might not have been possible if the city of Savannah had not adopted the historic Mid-City Rezoning in 2005.
The zoning overhaul, which was developed by the Metropolitan Planning Commission in close consultation with various stakeholders, allowed for commonsense development in keeping with the neighborhood’s mixed-use fabric.
The 10-year-old ordinance has pre-empted countless battles about parking requirements, setbacks and uses — arguments that can needlessly delay quality development that respects historical patterns.
Some of us thought this type of resurgence was going to happen several years ago, but marginal neighborhoods were hit hard by the 2007-09 recession and the slow recovery in the years immediately after that so-called “Great Recession.”
But it looks like the Bull Street corridor between Forsyth Park and Victory Drive has arrived at a tipping point. The positive momentum seems impossible to stop, even when the next recession inevitably hits.
City Talk appears every Sunday and Tuesday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 E. 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.
By Bill Dawers